NSA 60th Anniversary


Established on Nov. 4, 1952, in 2012 the National Security Agency celebrated 60 years of service to the nation.

In issuing the directive that gave birth to the agency, then-President Harry Truman understood the need to continue U.S. efforts that had led to breaking German and Japanese codes in World War II, success against the German U-Boat threat in the North Atlantic, and victory in the Battle of Midway in the Pacific. America had become a dominant power on a global stage, facing global responsibilities and threats. As war raged in Korea, the creation of NSA allowed the Defense Department to consolidate cryptologic support to military operations, and to meet challenges that the nation would face in the Cold War.

Learn more about the Agency's storied history of service to the nation in our 60th Anniversary publication and accompanying interactive timeline: NSA's 60 Years of Defending Our Nation.

NSA 60th Anniversary Book

You can read the NSA 60th Anniversary Book in the following format:


The below interactive NSA Timeline is from 1952 to 2012 and highlights major events in NSA's 60 years of defending the nation. Please click on the various decades to find important historical documents, audio files, and photographs from World War II and the beginnings of NSA through the 2000s. Included are 250 declassified documents, 196 of which are being released for the first time, and over 150 photographs and audio files. Example of what this timeline covers: NSA's first Director, the move to Fort Meade, Congressional hearings, the Suez Crisis, NSA's purchase of its first supercomputer, spies and defections, a ship capture, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Gulf of Tonkin, Soviet challenges, Project GUNMAN and bugs in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, support to Desert Storm, information technology revolution age, expeditionary SIGINT, and COMSEC developments. It then leads into the 1990s and 2000s and covers Afghanistan and Iraq and cyber security. The sources of this unique, historical collection are from the National Security Agency archives as well as all the Presidential Libraries. NSA/CSS 60th Anniversary Timeline

ImageTitle
 19750515_1970_DOC_3983384_GULF.PDFGulf of Thailand Support 02 - 14 May 1975
 20010905_2000_DOC_NSA_HAYDEN.PDFHayden Town Hall Meeting Slide 16 - 05 September 2001
 19640000_1960_DOC_3978605_HISTORY.PDFHistory of NSA General Purpose Electronic Digital Computers - 1964
 19550600_1950_DOC_3987506_HOOVER.PDFHoover Commission Study - June 1955
 19521205_1950_DOC_3978785_IMPLEMENTATION.PDFImplementation of NSCID 9 Revised - 5 December 1952
 20000327_2000_DOC_3987532_COVER.PDFIndependent Industry Review Team - Cover Signatures for Final Report - 27 March 2000
 19620300_1960_DOC_3978608_INITIAL.PDFInitial Attitudes of College Recruits Hired 1960-61 - March 1962
 19521031_1950_DOC_3978768_INITIAL.PDFInitial Plans Effecting NSA - 31 October 1952
 19770820_1970_DOC_3987511_INTELLIGENCE.PDFIntelligence Charter Legislation - 20 August 1977
 19511116_PRENSA_DOC_3984055_INTERCEPT.PDFIntercept Task Assignment Between USAF Security Service and AFSA - 16 November 1951
 19521104_1950_DOC_3978770_INTERIM.PDFInterim Implementation of National Security Counsel Intelligence Directive (NSCID) No. 9 Revised - 4 November 1952
 19450907_PRENSA_DOC_3984093_INTERIMREPORT.PDFInterim Report from Subcommittee on Merger Planning (SMP) - 7 September 1945
 19521205_1950_DOC_3978786_INTERIM.PDFInterim Responsibility for COMSEC - 5 December 1952
 19690725_1960_DOC_3978606_JCSDRAFT.PDFJCS Draft Revisions to NSCID No. 6 - 25 June 1969
 19690903_1960_DOC_3987516_JCSMEMO.PDFJCS Memorandum Regarding NSA Authorities and Relationships - 3 September 1969
Page 8 of 21
  • 00:00/00:00

00:00/00:00

Song Title

Ensemble Title

Album Title

ID CanStream CanDownload URL Song Ensemble Album Composer Arranger Publisher Year Duration Cover Art

NSA 60th Anniversary Audio Transcripts

Pre-NSA

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s